In the “life imitates art” department (in this case the old Kurt Russell movie), New York is shrinking. Why is it shrinking? Here we might want to cue in Sam Kinison from his peak shouty mood as Professor Turgeson in Back to School: BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE LEAVING!
The Financial Times has the skinny:
New York is shrinking, and faster than ever. Over the past three years, the population has declined by almost 500,000. On a ranking of the country’s contracting cities, New York handily takes the top spot, shrinking by 400,000 more than the next on the list (Chicago). New York City is 6 per cent smaller than in 2020, the most severe decline in the largest 50 US cities over this horizon, after San Francisco (-7 per cent).
But below the headline number the data look even worse—especially the disproportionate share of young people who are leaving:
